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President of the United Federation of Planets
The Federation Council is presided over by the President of the United Federation of Planets (informally, the Federation President), whose office can be found in Paris on Earth. ( ) The President is the chief executive officer of the Federation. Amongst other duties, he or she is responsible for the day-to-day running of the government, the coordination of foreign policy, and budgetary issues, and is the commander of all Starfleet forces. In addition, the President sometimes presides over special courts-martial in which the Federation Council serves as the judging body. ( ; ) While in the mirror universe, after seeing that mirror Worf was the Regent of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, Rom was so taken aback he exclaimed "Who's the President of the Federation, Gul Dukat!?" ( ) Jonathan Archer ]] Retired Earth Starfleet officer Jonathan Archer served as President from 2184 through 2192. ( ) :Archer's years of service as Federation President was displayed in his profile, as viewed by Hoshi Sato in the mirror universe, in . Human President, c. 2286 ]] In 2286, an unnamed Human fulfilled the role of President. That year he presided over the Council's deliberations concerning the actions of Admiral James T. Kirk, who had hijacked the and caused an interstellar incident with the Klingons at the Genesis Planet. Ultimately, the Council decided to charge Kirk with nine violations of Starfleet regulations. When the whale probe approached Earth, transmitting its destructive message into the planet's atmosphere, the President decided to broadcast a planetary distress signal to warn all ships to stay away from Earth. Following the whale probe incident (in which Kirk and his crew saved the planet), the President and the Council agreed to drop all but one of the charges against the Enterprise crew, the remaining charge simply resulting in Kirk being demoted to Captain - as he wanted all along - in gratitude for their service to Earth and the Federation. ( ) Efrosian President, c. 2293 ]] on Earth in 2293]] In 2293, the President, who was an unnamed Efrosian, opened negotiations with Klingon chancellor Gorkon, following the destruction of the Klingon moon Praxis. The President was to meet Gorkon on Earth for a peace conference, but Gorkon was assassinated en route by a pair of rogue Starfleet non-commissioned officers. captain Kirk and Doctor Leonard McCoy were arrested by the Klingons under the rules of interstellar law and charged with Gorkon's assassination; when the Klingon ambassador defended his government's actions and demanded that Kirk and McCoy stand trial, he conceded, "This president is not above the law." A short time later, Starfleet Colonel West proposed a military offensive (code-named Operation Retrieve) aimed at rescuing the "hostages", Kirk and McCoy. Although West was confident that the prisoners could be retrieved, the President rejected his plan because of the probability that such an act would cause a full-scale war. At the Khitomer Conference, the President was targeted for assassination by the Starfleet and Klingon conspirators, but the plot was foiled by the crew of the Enterprise with assistance by the crew of the . ( ) Jaresh-Inyo, c. 2372 In 2372, the post was held by Jaresh-Inyo, a Grazerite. His presidency was marked by a number of troubling foreign and domestic policy developments, including the dissolution of the Khitomer Accords and an undeclared war with the Klingon Empire in 2372, increasing tensions with the Dominion, and the rise of the Maquis. In 2372, fears of Changeling infiltration of the Federation government reached a high point when Dominion agents were discovered to have detonated a bomb at a diplomatic conference between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire in Antwerp. Starfleet Admiral and Chief of Starfleet Operations Leyton and Captain Benjamin Sisko advocated increased security on Earth following the bombing, and when the planetary power grid was disabled, Inyo declared martial law on the capital planet. Later, it was discovered that the grid had been disabled by Leyton's own agents, and that Leyton was leading an attempted military coup d'etat against the Federation civilian government. Leyton's coup was thwarted by Sisko, but as a result of the scandal, Jaresh-Inyo's political career ended. ( ) Jaresh-Inyo left office sometime prior to 2375. While questioning Luther Sloan, Julian Bashir discovered that Section 31 had an operative working in Jaresh-Inyo's cabinet. ( ) Appendices Background The method of electing the President of the United Federation of Planets is completely unknown and has never been discussed in a canon Star Trek production. Given the vast size of the Federation, it is possible the President is elected in a parliamentary fashion by sitting members of the Federation Council. It is equally possible that the Federation has a type of "electoral college system" where each member world is allocated a set number of votes depending on its population and importance. It is also just as possible that a simple popular vote is used, especially with the technology of the 23rd and 24th centuries which may allow for extremely efficient ballot systems. According to a newspaper clipping created as background material for and entitled "It's Federation Day!", the first President of the United Federation of Planets was former United Earth ambassador Thomas Vanderbilt, appointed upon the founding of the Federation in 2161. Ambassador Sarahd was appointed as his Vice President. This information, however, was not seen on-screen. Answering questions as to why Jaresh-Inyo put Earth into a state of emergency, Ronald D. Moore stated: :We wanted to tell the story of an attempted military coup of the Federation and that meant dealing with the Fed president. However, that meant the troops "in the streets" had to be on Earth and that Earth itself had to be under martial law since the Fed is headquartered on Earth. We discussed having the Prez "federalize" the Earth defense forces or supersede the authority of an indigenous Earth Govt, but the story kept getting too complicated and we didn't want to start mentioning all these other players and organizations that we weren't going to see. So in the end, we skirted the issue of who actually governs Earth. Personally, I think there is an Earth Govt that operates like more powerful versions of States do in the US system, but this is all VERY murky water. http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/6952/ron14.txt Apocrypha The President of the Federation and the duties of the office are the subjects of the novel Articles of the Federation, which tells the story of a year in the life of the newly-elected Federation President in a style similar to that of The West Wing. The novel also names several past Federation presidents, including the ones who are canonically "name unknown," and establishes that the office is held in four-year terms (but without a two-term limit) like the modern American presidency. Canonical and non-canonical Presidents of the United Federation of Planets depicted in the television series, films, novels, and comics include: * 2161 - ?: Thomas Vanderbilt (Human male) (Star Trek Generations) * (Dates unestablished: Mid-22nd Century): Haroun al-Rashid (Human male) (Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) * (Dates unestablished: Mid-22nd Century): Avaranthi sh'Rothress (Andorian shen female) (Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) * (Dates unestablished: Late 22nd Century): T'Maran of Vulcan (Vulcan female) (Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) * 2184-2192: Jonathan Archer (Human male) ( ) * (Exact dates unestablished: early 2230s, two terms): Madza Bral (Trill female) (Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) * 2265-2268: Kenneth Wescott (Human male) (Errand of Fury, Book I: Seeds of Rage by Kevin Ryan; date of at least one term from Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) * 2269-2272: Lorne McLaren (Human male) (Star Trek Core Games Book by Last Unicorn Games; date of at least one term from Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) * 2285-2288: Hiram Roth (Human male) (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, dates of at least one term and name from Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) * 2289-2300: Ra-ghoratreii (Efrosian male) (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country", dates from ''Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido, species name from Star Trek production office name for makeup design, character name from novelization of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country by J.M. Dillard) * (Dates unestablished; during Cardassian First Contact): Thelianaresth "Thelian" th'Vorothishria (Andorian thaan male) (Enter the Wolves by A.C. Crispin and Howard Weinstein; expanded name from Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) * (Dates unestablished; during the Cardassian-Federation border wars): T'Pragh of Vulcan (Vulcan female) (Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) * 2364-2368: Amitra of Pandril (Pandrilite female) (Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) * 2369-2372: Jaresh-Inyo (Grazerite male) (DS9: "Homefront", "Paradise Lost") (Species name from scripts; single term from Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) * 2373-2379: Min Zife (Bolian male) (A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal by David Mack, also referenced in Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido and Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Volume II: Trill by Andy Mangels & Michael A. Martin.) * 2379 - ?: Nanietta Bacco (Human female) (A Time for War, A Time for Peace and Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido) External link * President of the United Federation of Planets de:Präsident der Föderation fr:Président de la Fédération des Planètes Unies nl:Federatie President